Blank Spots
by Art.Is.My.Inspiration
Summary: Where am I? Last thing I remember is water, an endless expanse of dirty polluted water. Now I'm here, with a boy I don't know. I can tell he's lonely, but what can I do? Its not my problem, I've got my own dilemma. I don't even know where I am, and worse...Who I am...
1. Prologue

**A/N**

**This is my first fan fiction so tell me what you think and make sure to leave comments telling me how I can do better (because honestly, I'm sure I messed up a lot). This takes place during Son of Neptune, but more like the adventures from the Argo ll while they're sailing. I hope you like it and tell me what you think :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

Prologue:

The world was dark. My body seemed to be moving at a different speed as my mind. I couldn't see a thing; I forced the sticky eyelids apart and blinked rapidly to focus on my blurry surroundings. Water, all I could see for miles, all around me, the salty liquid getting in my mouth, nose, and eyes. I felt like someone had stuck wax in my ears and it had permanently clogged my eardrum. Another wave hit my face, causing my eyesight to go slightly blurry again. Water stung my throat and I tried in vain to push the briny fluid back up to my lips.

The only thing my shriveled fingers clung to was what looked like a buoy; it was painted bright red and was in the shape of a ball. My left arm hung over the side with my head resting awkwardly in the crook of my elbow. My legs felt numb, I tried to move them but if they responded I couldn't tell. My face was sore and aching, as if someone had slapped me one too many times. Every time I tried to recall what had happened to put me in the middle of an ocean I simply felt a burning sensation in the back of my eyes. My head was already throbbing, so not to put any more pressure on my aching mind, I stopped trying to remember and lay limp on the only thing keeping me safe.

The sweatshirt I was wearing was cold and stuck to my torso. It was a dark purple and it had words scrawled on the stomach in black but I couldn't tell what they read. The sleeves were torn around the wrists and near my elbows, shredded was a much better word. I still couldn't remember what happened but I was pretty sure waves couldn't do that much damage. I was afraid for what laid underneath; if my shirt was shredded wouldn't my skin be shredded too? My hair stuck to my arms and back in stringy pieces, I was assuming it would reach my waist if I had been standing on a flat surface. It was a dark brown and hung in my face tauntingly since I couldn't move it out of the way. Pieces clung to my chin and stuck to my eyelashes, I stared at it, not being able to do anything.

I must have stayed in the same position for hours, not being able to move and listening to the contorted sounds of birds and the ocean. It could have been a day, but after a while I began to see something in the distance. I squinted to get a better look, straining my tired eyes to look at the approaching ship. I could see the words _Argo ll_ painted on the side of the huge warship, armed with weapons. I could see tiny people on the dock of the quickly approaching vessel. Even though there was an overwhelming chance that they would either ignore me or not hear me, I painfully raised my head and screamed anyway.

My voice scratched the back of my throat as I shrieked "Help!" My voice my scratchy and hoarse, but I tried again, "Help!" I screamed again, my voice slightly louder and more powerful. I watched as a girl on the ship whipped her head around to see what the troublesome noise was, her eyes widened as she saw me. She called to a couple other men on the ship and it looked like she was trying to convince them of something, probably to help me. I guess it worked because I could see the commotion begin to start. I was too tired to scream again and I began to feel dizzy, my eyesight started to blur again and my throbbing head fell back down on my arm. My eyelids snapped shut and my world went black once more.

**N/A**

**How did you like it? Rate and Review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Hello! Another chapter for all of you! To:**

**FireofRiptide****: Yes, She is an OC. Thanks for reviewing!**

**fanficfantasies****: Thanks, that's why I wrote it like that, it opens it up for some mystery! You will find out in the future! Thanks for your review! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the**** Olympians**

Chapter 1:

Once again, I found myself awakening in strange surroundings. My movements were still groggy, but I could hear people talking, which was a good sign. My head wasn't throbbing anymore but I still had a slight headache, my bones were aching to some extent but not as much as before. I certainly felt more comfortable than I previously was.

"Psst, is she awake yet?" I heard a boy's voice ask, attempting to whisper even though I had no problem clearly hearing every word he said. "No Leo, now shut up." It was a girl speaking this time, dismissal in her voice. Curiosity won over my desire to eavesdrop, and I slowly opened my eyelids. I was obviously on a boat, it was a pretty good size but not enormously big. We were out on a deck of some sort, I was lying on the ground, a folded up article of clothing underneath my sore head. I could see three teenagers, two girls and one boy; they were standing a little ways off, observing me for any new movements. The whole situation was kind of awkward because after they realized I was awake they all shut up and started staring at me.

The first girl was the one who saw me, she had medium length brown hair, a little lighter than mine, and semi-dark skin… Cherokee? As for her eyes, I couldn't really decide what color they were, like a kaleidoscope... it was strange. The only boy had curly black hair, and his skin was also sort of dark, this one was obvious, Latino. The other girl was blonde; she had curly hair and blue eyes, and had a look on her face that told me she was the smarter one. Background…. I couldn't really tell Greek maybe? She had that kind of look to her.

"Ummm…." I trailed off, feeling uncomfortable with their staring; it was starting to creep me out.

"Could you… not look at me like that?" I ask awkwardly, trying to get them to quit their staring. It kind of worked; the girl with the brown hair looked at me and smiled, letting out a small, casual laugh.

"I like this one can we keep her?" The boy looked eagerly at the girl, who face palmed. My jaw dropped; did I really just hear that?

"Are you kidding me? I'm not a pet!" I reply, dismayed, I look back at the girl who smiled at me, I had named her as the one with more common sense.

She sighs "Sorry about him, he's a little…" She trailed off, twirling her index finger around her temple. The boy looked at her, elbowing her in the ribs and making her wince.

"Where's Jason anyway?" He asks, directing his question towards the blonde, who was watching the two with a look of exasperation on her face. As if his question summoned him, a blonde boy with sky blue eyes and pale skin, who I am assuming is Jason walked up behind the other boy so he was a few inches away from him. The boy, who still hadn't noticed Jason behind him just smiled and waited for the blonde to answer his question. It was actually quite amusing how clueless he was.

"Here" Jason speaks, quite loudly, for someone who is standing inches away from someone's ear. The Latino boy jump and makes a little noise, the surprised look on his face was hilarious considering we all knew what was going to happen. Latino boy turns and give Jason a glare, I silently laugh because you can basically see the bond between the two.

"Ahem." The blonde girl looks at them, eyebrows raised, "Stop fooling around!" She then turns in my direction, addressing me directly, "You must be very confused right now, I am Annabeth Chase, these are my friends, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, and as you already know, Jason Grace." She says, smiling and gesturing to them in turn.

I smile back nervously. "Hi" I offer. They all smile at me, but Leo's eyebrows furrow.

"What's your name anyway?" he asks, this time, my eyebrows furrow. That's the thing, I can't remember. It's like before, a burning sensation behind my eyeballs when I try; I thought it was just because I was tired and confused before but… I guess not.

"I-I can't really remember…" I say awkwardly, what would they call then? Girl? Piper and Jason's reactions are the ones that confuse me the most. Jason looks at Piper with a worried expression on his face. Piper just looks at him and mouths _no, it's probably not that… don't worry._ Jason nods back, looking more relaxed due to her reassurance. Now I'm even more confused, not what? I need answers. And this whole memory loss thing really isn't helping.

"No biggie, she probably just hit her head or something right?" Leo asks, looking at the others.

"Yeah, really Jason, there's no need to think her situation is the same as yours was." Annabeth says, looking confident in her answer. Now I'm really confused, what are they talking about? It's so frustrating not being able to remember things. But even if I did have my memory, there's a pretty good chance that I would still have no idea what they were talking about. I ask my question, even though it's doubtful I'll get a real answer.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"It's nothing" The all reply simultaneously. Suspicions confirmed. I change the subject; I probably won't get any information out of them anyway.

"So what are you going to call me then?" I ask, awaiting the answer.

Leo grins mischievously, "Whatever you want to be called…"

**N/A**

*****So what do you want her name to be? And who do you think her Godly parent is? What's you're reasoning? I can't post until I have a name because I really have no idea… I'm not good at these things! Review and tell me! I need suggestions! R&R!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Thanks to the people reading and reviewing! Here's another chapter!**

**Oh and here's my responses to the reviews:**

**FireofRiptide: Thanks for the suggestions, but my dad gave me an idea as to how to choose one, I'm excited! Thanks for reviewing, I appreciate that :)**

**Now… on with the chapter! Oh and I almost forgot….**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians nor will I ever.**

**CANNOT FORGET THAT…. Or else Rick Riordan's people are gonna come get me! :P**

**NOW on with the story! ENJOY! :)**

Chapter 2

I tilt my head to the side, excited. The gears in my mind are already turning.

"Really? I can just…. Choose my own name?"

Leo shrugs, half grinning at me, his hands are shoved into his pockets.

"Sure, I mean, how else are we going to name you?"

Jason and Piper are standing there, looking at Leo fondly; Jason's arm is around Piper's shoulders, and for the first time I realize they must be dating.

I have made a list in my mind of things I have realized,

_Jason and Piper are dating._

_Piper is the one with more common sense._

_Annabeth is the smarter one._

_Leo is the more playful and funny one._

_Jason is the quieter and laid back one._

And the last one is quite obvious:

_They are hiding something from me…. _

Piper's voice jolts me out of my dwelling on the satisfaction that I have already realized more than five things.

"You can think about it a little while yeah?"

I have to take a second to figure out what she's talking about but after I do, I nod in agreement.

"Good, there's an extra bedroom with a bathroom right through that door, why don't you clean up and get changed." Annabeth speaks, motioning to a wooden door a couple feet off.

I look at her gratefully; Gods know I need the shower. I slowly rise from my comfortable spot on the deck and walk quietly through the door, pretending I wasn't as dizzy as I really was at the sudden movement. I turn and survey the room, it was actually pretty nice. A little small, but I can deal with that. The walls were painted orange and silver, a strange combination of colors, but it didn't really matter. Around the room, pieces of furniture were scattered, a bookcase, a lamp, some drawers, things like that. As my eyes traveled the room, I see, much to my excitement, a queen sized bed sitting in the corner of the room. I'm sure if I could have seen myself; my eyes would have grown the size of saucers and my mouth into a wide, goofy grin. I squeal and throw myself onto the giant fluffy bed, ignoring the pain that raced through me upon impact. I sigh in contentment as my body sinks into the soft white mattress. Don't judge me, I was just out in the middle of the ocean for Gods-know-how-long on a RAFT and I don't even remember how long ago I actually slept in a bed. And for the record I still couldn't remember a single thing about my past, nothing.

I suddenly realize how dirty I am and wrinkle my nose in disgust. I know I need to take a shower, but I really don't want to get up from this fluffy heaven most normal people call a bed. Bed, Shower, Bed, Shower, BED…. I sigh, my desperation to get the grime off of my body won over my desire to sink into the fluffy mattress and have a nice rest. I'm starting to get second thoughts on my choice, but before I can completely contradict my previous decision, I fling myself off of my new bed and land face first on the hardwood floor. Not one of the best decisions I could have made….

I slowly rise up off of the floor, deciding to pretend nothing of the sort had happened and proceeded to stride quietly into the bathroom. As I walk through the door, my steps slow until they reach a stop and I gaze curiously at a full length mirror mounted on the cream colored wall. I blink, and realize that this is the first time I have seen my reflection, that I remember, I mean. It's really quite strange to me. The purple sweatshirt I noticed I was wearing before does, in fact have writing on it, but it's so faded and peeled that I can't read what it had originally said. I'm also wearing light gray shorts that are tinged slightly green from the ocean. My wavy dark brown hair hangs at about elbow length, and I'm sort of confused when I see my eyes, they are a kind of purple color. I may not remember anything of my past but I'm pretty sure eyes aren't supposed to be this color. Though Piper has strange eyes too…eh, it's probably just the lighting or something. But I'm not entirely convinced by the excuse my mind is telling me to explain my unusual eye color.

I tear my oddly colored eyes away from my reflection and turn the polished silver handles inside the tall shower. I strip my clothes and step in, the coldness of the tiles sending shivers down my spine. I close my eyes and sigh as the warm water streams down my back. After I have scrubbed most of the saltiness from my skin and hair, I turn the silvery knobs once more and the consistent spray of the warm water slows until it is only a trickle. I step out and wrap a fluffy white towel around my now cold body. After looking through quite a few drawers, I find some clean and salt free articles of clothing. I slip on a pair of dark jeans and pause before I have the chance to slide a dry hoodie over my head. I turn my gaze back to my old purple hoodie and I have a strange reluctance to part from it. Maybe I can ask Piper if we can fix it up later…. I shake my head, what I am I thinking? Does it really matter? _Yes._ A voice in my mind speaks, I ignore it a walk to the door. Before I leave I turn on my heel, folding and carefully placing the slightly shredded sweatshirt onto my bed.

Feeling satisfied I turn around to exit once more, but there, standing in the middle of my room is a cloaked woman. Where did she come from? I was sure I locked the door… _ Danger!_ My mind abruptly screams, and I have an intense feeling that this woman is…. Important. I suddenly realize what she is wearing is not average, a goatskin cloak, why does that suddenly seem significant?

"How'd you get in here? And really lady? Have some fashion sense!" My mouth speaks before my mind can process what I have said, and once I have, my hand flies to my mouth, dismayed. Was something bad going to happen to me now? The strange woman speaks, but her mouth is not moving, and her voice is echoes through my head instead of in my ears.

_Is that any way to speak to your new patron?_

**N/A**

**MWAHAHAHAHA… Sorry got a little excited there….Am I the only one who thought that what my OC said to the woman is a total Leo thing to say? And sorry she didn't get a name yet, I figured out a better way to choose one and a way so it won't seem so awkward in the story and it had to wait til the next chapter. And I'm going to try to make the chapters a bit longer in the future. Anyway… Rate and Review! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**Thanks for reading my story and commenting-**

**greensaber92: Thanks for your great review! There is, there is, believe me! Thanks for your suggestions and predictions, and thank you for commenting! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and The Olympians.**

**Now on with the story!**

Chapter 3:

I froze, who did this lady think she was?

"Who are you?" I demand, my eyes narrowing. "How did you even-" I am cut off by her voice echoing in my head.

_Your time is limited, child. I understand you do not have a name, yes? As your patron I feel that it is fitting for me to have the honors of naming you._

She paused, unintentionally giving me enough time to interrupt, which I jumped at the chance.

"Wait, I don't even know who you are and now you're claiming to have the rights to-"

She cuts me off again, you know, this gets rather annoying after a while.

_Yes you know me. Now, for your name…. Alexis… yes, the meaning will be rather fitting in the future. You will be called Alexis, child, now for you quest._

Quest? Now this is all just nonsense. My brain is telling me to ignore her; common sense tells me that this is most certainly not normal, I mean, the dang woman's voice is echoing in my head for crying out loud. But something inside of me is telling me to listen, that this woman is important. I don't know which side is correct, but I listen to what she has to say anyway.

_You will stop at the island; you will pass it in minutes, and retrieve for me an item of great power. _

I glare at her, "And whose gonna make me?" I ask, raising a brow despite my brain screaming at me not to back talk her.

_Very well, you leave me no choice, remember child, in four days you will return to me with this item._

The hooded woman dissolved, leaving behind a mist that slowly vanished with her. I stand there, breathing heavily, taking in all of the information she told me moments ago. I blink slowly and tell myself that this is important, that this woman is important. I decide that the best thing to do is to tell someone, so I move my stiff muscles and make my way out of the door. As I leave, I see Leo, kneeling in the middle of the deck, the others nowhere to be seen. I open my mouth to speak, but close it again when I take a closer look at him. His face is blank, eyes staring into space, immersed in a daydream. The only part of his body that is moving is his hand, tapping away on his knee. I stare at it, watching his long fingers tap out a repeating pattern. Something awakens in my mind, and I realized its Morse code, I don't know how I know, I just do. The thing that really makes me sad is the message itself, over and over again the words: _Love you._

I stand there for minutes on end, not wanting to break whatever train of thought or memory occupying his thoughts. I know I have to though; something about the woman is too powerful to ignore. Walking up to him, I place a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo…" I trail off softly, not wanted to startle him.

His head snaps up, tears in his eyes, his hand has gone motionless. He begins to rise, and I stand back, giving him room to maneuver. I smile at him reassuringly even though I have no idea what is going on.

"Sorry for anything I may have interrupted but, a hooded woman kinda just appeared in my room, sorta threatened me and disappeared in a poof of smoke so…" I trail off humorously.

He looks at me, smiling at my attempted humor, before he processes what I had said and when he has, his smile vanishes and a look of seriousness crosses his face.

"C'mon we need to find Jason and Piper." He tells me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me across the deck. After looking in multiple rooms, we finally find the one where Jason and Piper must've been hiding in this whole time. It looks like they were just talking casually… but who knows with them… nah just kidding it was actually really obvious that they were only talking. Piper is sitting cross legged on a bed, neck hunched over, and drinking some sort of smoothie. Her sleeves are pulled over her hands to shield the coldness of the drink and her hair is falling in her face. Jason is sitting in a chair, tilting backwards on the hind legs. As we walk in, their eyes turn towards us, Jason starts to smile, but as he catches Leo's facial expression and it vanishes.

"What's up?" Piper asks concernedly.

Leo turns towards me, gesturing that I should explain.

"Okay so basically a hooded woman kinda just appeared in my room, sorta threatened me and disappeared in a poof of smoke." I explain to them for a second time.

A look of worry crosses Jason's face,

"Tell us exactly what happened."

After I explain almost word for word our conversation, Jason sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

"Sorry to break it to you, but you just back-talked the queen of the Gods."

He tells me.

"Excuse me?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"And you told her she had no fashion sense." Leo adds, but he's grinning as if he found the line funny. I did too but at the time, I really thought she was just gonna like slap me or something.

"Well she doesn't." I grumble, getting looks from everyone else. It's true though, that lady really needs to get a new style. You would think being a God and all she would be wearing designer clothes or something. And yes, I have accepted that there are Gods, it's not that hard to believe and I had a weird feeling something like this was happening.

"And she took away my naming rights. Jerk." I mutter, still kinda ticked about that. Don't get me wrong Alexis is a good name but…. She can't just barge in and announce that she had rights over me! Okay, maybe she does, being a God and all, but still.

"So you're not shocked at all that there are Gods out there?" Piper questions me, I shake my head.

"And that we are half God?"... And that _you_ are half God?" Jason adds, yeah it's pretty obvious that I am a demigod now. I shake my head again.

"Nope" I pop the_ p. _"I kinda had a feeling..." I say, unsure of how to explain it.

"Yeah, we did too; we were only brought to camp half-blood last year. Well except Jason… he just forgot everything he knew and…. Well yeah." Leo jumps into the conversation, shrugging. "I mean, it's kinda hard to explain, I guess you had to be there, on our quest."

I look up, eagerly, grinning like a maniac.

"Story time!" I yell, throwing my hands in the air, and receiving odd looks from the rest of them.

"Now you have to tell me everything about your quest. From when you were recruited to camp half-blood. Tell me everything." I say, dragging out the _n_ in everything. I rub my hands together, excitedly, looking at everyone. Jason sighs, face palming, Leo grins at me, beginning to crack up, and Piper sits there sipping her smoothie, smiling at everyone else's reactions.

"Everything?" Jason asks, exasperated.

"Everything." I confirm, this is gonna be a long night.

Just as Jason opens his mouth to explain the beginning of their adventure, the deck begins to shake and you hear the crack of wood snapping. Everybody falls silent, looking around, not knowing what to do; I think it's safe to say nobody was expecting this. The ship begins to sway and rock back and forth, forcing us to grab onto the closest thing to us to stop us from tumbling to the ground. Unfortunately, the closest thing to me that is big enough to hold onto just happens to be Leo's arm. I latch my fingers around his bicep, making him look at me like I had fallen from the sky. Piper jumps up from her position on the bed, eyes wide and suddenly alert, her smoothie falls to the floor. Leo grabs onto the bedpost, dragging me with him, and I don't have the nerve to switch from his arm to the bedpost.

"This must be what Juno was talking about when she said 'You leave me no choice'". I say quietly, looking around at the others' facial expressions.

Leo's eyes widen. "Which means... we're gonna crash… right into the island of her choice."

I groan, Stupid old powerful people with no fashion sense, making me do things… I complain to myself in my head.

I feel the ship rumble as it crashes into a solid piece of land; the impact is softer than I would have expected. I guess Juno or whoever Juno is controlling doesn't want to completely wreck our ship. I would say we could probably still sail in it, it most likely just needed some minor fix-ups. But I think Juno made it pretty clear what she wanted us to do, she would probably just stop us again, if we were to try to leave, that is.

So I guess we're stranded here, for now. On an island. Wonderful.

**N/A**

**How did you like it? Now they have to go on a quest :P well, I know it's not that action-y yet but I just needed to get all the explaining and stuff out of the way. Did you make any new predictions? Tell me what you thought! Next chapter might be up a little late because I don't really know what I'm gonna do for it. Anyway, I hope you liked it! Rate and Review :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**Hey guys, here's another chapter. Thanks for commenting-**

**Anastasia Laurels 2.0: Thanks for your comment! I'm exactly the same way! The Morse code scene was one of my favorites too, and I agree, if people were kissing 24/7, that would be just plain awkward. And thanks for the "wordy" review! It made me happyyyy! :)**

**Horselover067: Emma! Why are you even… never mind…**

**I am writing this at two in the morning… and sorry it took me so long to post, I had my friend sleeping over Thursday (When I last posted) and on Friday I had stuff to do, which sadly meant shopping, for random things… grrr. On Saturday I had a softball thing at 11 (Now that is EARLY for Me.) and I helped my dad with yard work and vacuumed the pool, I then had a water fight with my brother. I then hardcore practiced softball… and HARDCORE means HARDCORE. For about 2 hours, then swam in the pool and did my laps. Then I was working on this very chapter but I didn't finish. Now today I had church and then a birthday party that was very, very long. (8 hrs.) So here I am now, posting. (And sorry that was completely pointless I just felt the need to explain myself. I know you don't care about my personal life… EMMA [inside joke])**

**Oh yeah! Me and my best friend (Emma ^ she made a comment *sighs* she's a psychopath…) made another account: ****Vanillatwilight067****. Sadly we cannot post stories for two days :(**

**Anyway…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**On with the story :)**

Chapter 4:

We all stand frozen, not sure what to do, even though the ship has long since stopped shaking, my hand is still fastened onto Leo's arm. This is probably rather awkward for him right now.

"So… should we go out and explore?" I say uncertainly, unwilling to break to silence that has settled over us.

"We should probably begin to look for the 'powerful item' Hera was talking about." Piper says, thinking.

"Hera? You mean Juno?" I say confused, all these names….

"Oh- yeah, sorry." She responds, but she still seems distant. I shrug, finally releasing my hold on Leo's arm to make my way towards the door, which was flung open during the wrath of Juno. I look back at the rest of them.

"Shouldn't we get going?" I question them, but it's more like an encouragement rather than a question. As I speak, Annabeth rushes into the room, talking quickly.

"Thank the Gods; I had no idea where you guys went. What happened to the ship? Why did we stop?"

"Actually, we were just discussing that, you see, Alexis here was visited by Hera, A.K.A Juno." Jason explains to her.

"She claimed to have the rights to name me." I add, not wanting to confuse her more.

"So…. Hera's the reason for the ship stopping?" Annabeth asks uncertainly. Something clicks in my mind, and I realize that Hera must be the Greek version of Juno. Ohh… this makes a lot more sense now. I quickly explain my 'discussion' with Juno… even though it was mostly her godliness interrupting me.

"So you told her she had no fashion sense?" Annabeth says when I finish, raising an eyebrow and looking amused.

"Yes?" I say uncertainly, but it comes out more as a question.

"Well it's about time someone told that jerk off." Annabeth says, and I laugh, wow, Annabeth must really not like her….

"What do you have a grudge against her or something?" I assumed, looking for an explanation.

"Well she dropped a statue on my friend Thalia's legs, and sent cows after me that left little 'presents' all over the place…" She shudders, and I laugh, so apparently Juno sent cows to… follow her around and 'do their business' wherever Annabeth went…. Well that's just wonderful… wonder what Annabeth did to get _that_ punishment…

"Okay can we stop our little gossip session against Hera and actually get off this ship? We're on a deadline here!" Leo says, annoyed by our antics.

"Alright, alright, jeez, grumpy much?" I say, amused. Leo rolls his eyes in my direction, but he's laughing a bit too.

We finally unboard the ship and all our jaws drop at the large expanse of land in front of us. There are large, thin trees towering over us, their trunks droop from the weight of the branches and leaves at the topmost point. Above the loftiest branches, I could see the very top of a coarse brown volcano. The sky was clear and cloudless, the sun beating down the beach. Coconuts littered the floor beneath the trees and more hung from the branches.

When Leo sees the coconuts, his pupils dilate and he begins to scurry through the soft sand.

"Coconuts!" He yells, picking one up as he reaches the trees, pulling out a kitchen knife –out of nowhere I might add- and looking at the round fruit thoughtfully.

"I've always wanted to taste coconut milk…" He says, staring at it and I know what he is going to do next.

"Hi-yah!" He yells exaggeratedly and hacks at the coconut with his kitchen knife until it cracks perfectly in half. Picking up one half, he uncautiously sips the milk inside. Once he swallows his face twists and his nose scrunches up, making me burst out in laughter.

"Ewww!" He screams, wiping his tongue on the back of his hand.

"Do you even like coconut?" I say, walking towards him.

"No, why?" He asks and I mentally face palm.

"Well if you don't like coconuts why would you want to try coconut milk dumb head?" I say, as if it was obvious, which it was.

"Well I just wanted to try it!" He says stubbornly, and I sigh, giving up. The others begin to approach, kneeling next to Leo.

Suddenly, I realize something,

"I don't have a weapon!" I say, looking at the others, suddenly Leo's face lights up and you can practically see the light bulb go 'ding' over his head.

"Here" He says, pulling a machete out of his belt, that, before now, I didn't notice, and I realized it is probably magical, because one, nothing that big can fit in that small of a tool belt and two… well that's pretty much it. The machete is long; maybe about three and a half feet in length; it has a black blade and a leather handle, which is just barely curved. When he gets questioning glances from the others he starts to explain,

"Well, my dad may or may not have upgraded my tool belt before we sailed." He speaks, and the others nod acceptingly.

As if on an unspoken command, we all stand and turn to the massive expanse of trees and begin walking through the dense undergrowth. I chop through most of the branches with my new machete... yay! I still can't believe that came out of his belt…

Suddenly, from the undergrowth, meters away came some sort of growling sound. Everybody froze, even Leo, the growling sound came closer and closer, and with each growl we back away more and more. But I was pretty sure we were gonna have to fight the thing, but the suspense was killing me.

I look around at the clearing we're in, wondering if it's any good for fighting. We had somehow backed into an open clearing, surrounded by undergrowth; I don't really have time to think because the growling can't possibly get any closer.

From the undergrowth, a sort of lion appears; well the body belongs to a lions, the short red fur on end as it backs us into a corner, snarling at us. A long red mane tumbles down its elegant neck and it shakes its head as it stares at us, hostility clearly gleaming in its cool blue eyes. Strangely enough, the head of the creature is human, a man's head, the red fur morphs into a dark skin color, and behind its bared lips are three rows of sharp teeth (much like a shark's.) There are thick brownish horns growing out of the sides of its head, the tops are rounded and eroded with age. When its full body emerges into the clearing, I can see clearly the tail is one of a scorpion, and I know instantly that the venom must be poisonous. Its face is twisted as it sneers and growls at us, barely still resembling a man's.

"That is what is called a Manticore, it devours its prey whole and leaves no clothes, bones, or belongings of the prey behind." Annabeth informs us matter-a-factly, Leo rolls his eyes.

"Great to know." He murmurs sarcastically, giving her a look.

Leo then draws his weapon of choice –a large hammer- from his trusty tool belt and moves into a fighting position. Piper pulls her gleaming dagger out of its sheath and narrows her eyes at the beast, wearing an expression that says 'bring it'. Jason brings a shiny metal coin out of his pocket and I watch, appalled, as he flips it into the air like a pro and catches it when it comes back down in the form of a sword. I bring my machete out from the sash I had recently made to hold it against my back, and shift into a fighting stance as well, eager to try out my new weapon.

The lion-like creature lunges, only to get sliced by a gold sword delivered by Jason, who is currently in front of all of us. The Manticore roars, clawing the ground and leaning back on its haunches, getting ready to slice again. This time it swipes at me, and instincts take over as I duck and bring my machete down across its anger filled face, creating a long scar that runs from its forehead diagonally down across its face and ending beneath its lip. It roars again, rearing up on its hind legs and bringing its giant paws down to the earth, making it rumble beneath them. This time, it slashes Leo and Piper, who are huddled together behind Jason and I. Piper defends, slashing her knife quickly and making four long slashes across its chest, causing it to bleed heavily.

Suddenly, the creature turns, facing my direction and making me tumble backwards in surprise. Lucky me… I fall on my butt. Who knew I was this clumsy? The Manticore looms over me; I can hear its heartbeat and feel its hot breath on my face, monster drool drips from its mouth, getting all over me in the process. I reach for my machete, which has skirted across the forest floor in my clumsiness. The others are maybe 10 yards away… I have no idea how I got stranded this far from them. The monster raises a paw as my friends rush quickly to my aid, and it brings its long claw down over my face, giving me a cut almost as deep as the one I gave it. The cut is down the side of my face, beginning at the middle of my eyebrow vertically down to my jawline. I wince, ouch, that one hurt. A lot. Blood drips from the wound and runs down the side of my face, getting on my ear. My heart pounds in my ears as I hear my friends get closer to me, and I hear Leo yell.

"Oh no, not in my backyard Manny." He says sassily, giving the Manticore a shortened version of its name- Manny. He then brings his 10 inch diameter wooden hammer, down over its head, bonking it and looking much like a cartoon character in the process. The Manticore springs towards him and off of me, it scorpion tail dragging across my leg, making me shiver. I hear Jason and Piper spring to Leo's assistance, and I jump shakily to my feet, to join them.

The Manticore lets out an ear-piercing howl and attacks us all once more.

**N/A**

**How did you like it? I think I'm happy with that chapter; sorry it took so long to post though… I have ideas for the upcoming chapters… wink wink. Rate and review! :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N**

**Hey guys, I'm still trying to update quickly. Thanks for reading my story and reviewing-**

**Anastasia Laurels 2.0: Hahahaha I know, I tried to make Leo somewhat funny but… I'm not really good at that… I don't know... I'm trying. Thanks for reviewing :)**

**Anonymous: Thank you! And you'll just hafta keep reading and find out. Thanks for your review :)**

**Sorry, I would have updated sooner but my dad is doing all sorts of work with our house and our deck and I have been helping him. My aunt from Georgia has also been here for a couple days, so I spent a lot of time with her since we don't get to see her that much. Plus, I had a major writers block for this chapter. Anyway, I also wanted to write another story, but I don't know what to do. Ideas?**

**Well anywho, **

**I'm not going to be able to update next week seeing as I am going to Mexico to build houses for the homeless people there with people from my church congregation - 3 PROJECT MEXICO 3 - that's from the 6****th**** to the 13****th ****and I probably won't have the chance to post a chapter before then… We'll see :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and The Olympians.**

**Here it is :)**

Chapter 5:

We all unfreeze and raise our weapons to attack the beast once more. Suddenly Annabeth springs from the trees, holding her dagger firmly in her hand, so that's where she' been this whole time… She jumps onto the Manticore's back, in answer it roars in anger, revealing three rows of sharpened teeth. As the perfect opportunity arose, Annabeth shoves the blade into the animal's large mouth, and down into its throat. The monster makes a gagging sound twice before its eyes become glazed over and it drops to the ground with a booming thud. Well… it definitely wasn't expecting that… odd but effective method. Annabeth is now standing off to the left of the beast, beginning to speak smart talk again.

"You see, the Maticore's fur is impenetrable, meaning nothing will happen if you stab at its skin, and theoretically the only unprotected place is its mouth, so it was necessary to stab it in its throat to kill it." She says, once again explaining something we really, didn't need to know. Leo face has a sarcastic look to it and he opens his mouth to speak, probably to make fun of her constant sprouting of unnecessary information. Only to close it again as his facial expression suddenly becomes one of confusion, as if he just realized something.

"So, how come Alex was able to give it a scar?" He asks, and for a minute my face stays blank, Alex? After several moments I realize that Alex is me, since Alex is a shortened version of the name Alexis, which I still haven't gotten used to. Annabeth shrugs, she had obviously already thought of that,

"Couldn't say, probably has something to do with her past." She says, as if there was no point in putting any more thought into it. Piper rolls her eyes and makes a comical face, exasperated with Annabeth's 'smart' way of speaking (If you know what I mean).

"Well, I'm gonna go get some stuff off the ship; there are some necessary supplies that we need for this trip." Piper says, already beginning to walk off with Jason trailing her.

"Um, I'm just gonna take a walk okay guys?" I say uneasily, I need time to think. Piper waves her hand to show that she heard me and yells over her shoulder.

"Sure, I'll get you some extra stuff and we won't leave without you." She says, not turning around once, well that's Piper for you. I shrug; disregarding the fact that Leo hasn't made any move to go with them. Walking deeper into the forest, I shave marks in vines and trees so I can find my way back without a problem. Suddenly, I hear the rustling of footsteps and I slow my pace, listening for anyone who may be approaching in the dense undergrowth. The crunching soon stops and I continue walking at a steady pace. Suddenly Leo jumps out of the thorny bushes in front of me, making a comical face.

"Holy mother!" I yelp, surprised, but also kind of glad that it wasn't another animal with mixed up body parts and a human head. When Leo hears my choice of words he suddenly combusts into a fit of laughter, the corners of his mouth turning upward as his odd face dissolves into a wide grin. For a moment I stare at him like 'what the heck?'… I mean, who wouldn't scream if a kid jumped out from a bush with absolutely no warning at all? It's not that strange of a reaction! My serious face soon cracks as my mouth also turns upward into a smirk, laughs escaping my throat. What? His laughter is contagious.

"That's- that's what I said when- when I-" Leo stutters, trying to form a sentence but ultimately failing as a fit of laughter overtakes his body. I continue to chuckle, but Leo is practically rolling on the floor, it is actually quite amusing. I give him a questioning look regarding his previous statement, if it could even be considered that and try to keep a straight face while looking at his giggling fit. He coughs, clearing his face and trying to get through an explanation without bursting into laughter.

"That's what I said when I saw my father for the first time." He says, grinning, and I look at him.

"You said that to your _father_? Which God is he?" I ask after waiting a couple of seconds, he obviously had forgotten that I had only known him for a day. His head jolts up, apparently just realizing the fact that I haven't been traveling with him for the last year so therefore I don't know his life story.

"Oh, my dad's Hephaestus." He says shrugging, still grinning from his previous hysterical fit.

"So basically, Vulcan?" I say, the awesomeness of my random knowledge of Gods kicking in.

"Yeah" He replies, "I don't know about Roman but in Greek form, he's pretty ugly… and his face was so close…" He says, shuddering at the memory that obviously left a scar (sarcasm…). I laugh, yeah; we've determined that I was almost definitely Roman. What with the recognizing the Gods by their Roman names to the instincts, my situation is pretty similar to Jason's.

"So you guys think Juno took my memories as a form of blackmail?" I presumed, raising my eyebrows, Leo just shrugged.

"Yeah, what else could have happened? Your situation is almost exactly like Jason's except…." He trails of before continuing after a moment's hesitation. "You don't know your Godly parent do you? That's the weird thing, Jason just kinda knew."

I shrug, "I wish I knew." It was true; the information was gone, just like the rest of my memories. It was all empty space, and although I had some instincts or a 'feeling', the whole situation was pretty depressing. But whatever, I don't like to think about that much, always think positive right?

The next few minutes were spent in silence, but not an awkward silence, more like a 'thinking silence'. I think we were both immersed in our own thoughts at this point. After a while of this Leo turned his head towards me.

"We should get back to them." He says, already getting to his feet. I nod my head once to show that I understood and pushed myself away from the sturdy tree trunk I had been leaning on. We began to walk back through the trees and vegetation, following the scratches I had made earlier. It turns out; I had walked farther than I had originally thought, so it took us longer to get back to the group then I had thought it would.

Once we arrived back at the clearing where we had agreed to meet, we found Annabeth, Piper and Jason sitting on the ground, obviously waiting for us. There were five small blue backpacks in a pile at their feet. Once they heard us coming, Piper's head snapped up.

"There you are!" She exclaimed, slightly annoyed. "We got some supplies; Annabeth had the packs ready in the ship beforehand." She says, gesturing towards the packs. Leo looks slightly amused that Annabeth would plan ahead for this kind of incident.

"Slightly paranoid don't'cha think?" He asks sarcastically, she glares at him.

"Hey it worked, look where we are now, you should be grateful." She says, raising an eyebrow, seeming proud that she has prepared us.

"In the packs there is money, - regular and drachmas- ambrosia, things to that effect." Piper adds, glancing at us all. Jason opens his mouth to speak.

"Guys I wanted to talk about-" He was cut off by a loud roaring and a clomping noise. All five of our heads whipped around to stare at the quivering undergrowth.

When the monster finally emerges, I can see clearly the eight dragon heads perched upon long scaly necks. The flaps of skin on its neck are fluffed up just like a lizard might do when it's scared or angry. I can see its many, many sharp teeth visibly in the light of the setting sun. A dragon tongue hisses from in between the teeth of all of the serpents heads.

"That is a Hydra, its-" Annabeth begins, only to be cut off by a glare sent by the one and only Piper McLean. We are all standing now, weapons draw, weary of our second monster of the day.

We all edge towards the beast, not wanting to make the first move. I catch sight of a small flame in the bushes behind it, a flickering red light in the dark undergrowth. A pale, petite girl suddenly leaps out of the bushes, apparently trying to torch the monster. Suddenly Annabeth's eyes widen, and she yells out in our direction.

"She's right, the only way to kill it is to burn it" She screams, but I know the torch won't be enough to burn it.

"Got any gasoline?" I ask, my gaze flicking towards Leo with his handy belt.

"'Course I do." He says wickedly and his hand slips inside the tool belt, which emerged soon after with a medium sized glass bottle resting in his hand. I watch as he tosses it up in the air dramatically before catching it and throwing it back towards the beast. Moments later I hear the glass shatter and the unmistakable smell of gasoline assaults my senses.

**N/A**

**So what did you think? Sorry I had writers block I would have updated sooner! Anyway I hoped you liked it… Rate and Review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N**

**Hey…. I'm back! Thanks to the people who read and reviewed-**

**SmilingSim: Thank you! And also thanks for reviewing.**

**Anastasia Laurels 2.0: Thanks! And yeah it was fun :) it's good to know that**_** someone**_** is reading the authors notes, I got a little worried there for a second!**

**Guest: Thanks, and don't worry, I don't think I'll be abandoning this story any time soon!**

**nclhdrs1717: Thank you… and honestly, thanks for catching that… I'm gonna pretend I already realized it… :)**

**Erin/guest: Thank you! And yes… I am insane… plus I read your fan fiction on Watt pad… continue it I'm dying!**

…

**So yeah, I'm back from Mexico with another chapter for you all! I don't really have much to say today so…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians…**

**ON WITH THE STORY :)**

Chapter 6:

I stare at the burning remains of the creature which was once almost as big as the ship I came here on. The body of the Hydra is still there, yes, but it is now charred and burnt, lying lifeless on the grassy clearing.

I turn my gaze over to the girl who tried to help us; she has straight black hair which comes to an end just above her shoulder. The part of her hair is all the way to the left of her head so that a considerably large bit of hair is obscuring one eye from view. Her eyes are a vibrant blue, which startles me; due to the fact that her hair is so dark, but I also think it is kind of cool looking. She has an angular face and small eyebrows that arch above her eyes. Her eyelashes are long and thick, though I don't know If they are natural or not. Her skin has a somewhat dark tone to it, yet not quite as dark as Leo's, but still not pale enough to make her black hair look unnatural. She is a petite girl but you can tell she is not weak at all, and her eyes have a commanding look to them. She looks around our age, which I learned from piper, and stands at about five foot three, a couple of inches under me… Ha. That rhymed…

Jason, Leo, Piper, Annabeth and I stand off the side, not quite doing anything, but at the same time, not doing nothing either- if that makes any sense. The expression on Leo's face is amusing, but in a way also kind of sets me off, for some reason, but whatever. He stares at the girl and his eyes almost literally have stars in them. I turn to look over at Jason and Piper, who I find are sharing looks again, Jason mouths something like 'Not again' and Piper replies back with 'This literally happens every. Single. Time.' Which makes me laugh, again I don't have a legit reason what they are talking about, but I can guess pretty well too. This should be interesting to watch.

"You just gonna stand there or what?" The girl says with a sort of kind expression on her face, but her voice sounds kind of forced. I twist my face into a friendly smile and turn towards her.

"Thanks for that, I don't mean to sound rude but- who are you?" I say, earning a full smile from the girl, revealing shiny white teeth.

"Sorry- I'm Adrienne." She says, her eyes glued to my face. I turn towards Annabeth, whose eyes are wide as she looks at me; when she speaks it comes out a whisper.

"Uh… Alexis… you should probably wash your face." I was slightly confused until I remembered the gash I had gotten during the Manticore fight, I had forgotten all about it. I slowly reach my hand up to my face, afraid for what I would feel, and wincing as I felt the sticky blood on my fingers. The wound isn't that deep, but the bleeding is still pretty bad. Piper hands me a bottle of water from her pack, which I take, gratefully, before pouring some onto my clean hand. I rub my wet fingers gently across the place where the skin was torn, to get the dark red blood off of my face. It's closing up already, and most of the blood is dried and already flaking off in my fingers. I nod in the direction of the rest of the group- who are all staring at me, even Leo, who has torn his gaze from Adrienne.

"Continue." I say, still rubbing my face, even though most of the blood is gone, they all nod, looking to Annabeth to introduce us. – Except Leo, who turns his gaze back to Adrienne.

After giving them an annoyed look, as if to say: _'why is it always me who has to introduce us?'_ She begins to speak. "I am Annabeth; this is Jason, Leo, Piper, and Alexis." She says, pointing to us in turn. The girl nods her head once, and we all look at her, waiting for her to continue her own explanation. She pauses, before wringing her fingers together and biting her lip, which if possible, makes Leo even more loony then he already is. I shake my head, rather ashamed of him, he wouldn't be someone I would have put in the "loves girls" category –not that there's any people that I remember to choose from- but I guess you can't assume things until you really get to know a person. The girl looks like she's made up her mind, and I turn my attention towards her as she begins to speak.

"I need your help." She blurts out quickly, before beginning to explain herself. "I'm looking for my brother." She pushes a lock of hair behind her ear. "We were… separated."

"So…" I say, trailing off, implying for her to continue.

"I saw you guys get off of your ship and I was… kind of hoping you would help me." Adrienne says, looking up at us with hopeful eyes… It. Was. Adorable O.O (Sorry, not to sound creepy but seriously… you just couldn't say no!) Leo obviously thought so too because he quickly spoke up before any of us could open our mouths.

"Sure!" He says, maybe a little too enthusiastically… just a little... I shake my head, along with Jason, who also seems wary of Leo's… how do I say this…. Eagerness, to put it lightly.

"Hey" I say, butting into the conversation. "We have a quest to finish! Did you forget about that?" I prod, slightly annoyed that Leo could just forget what we came here for... or were forced here for… Whatever!

Annabeth speaks up, thinking "Well obviously we can't just forget about the quest but…I mean we can't just _not_ help her." Yes, yes we can, I think, but I don't say anything.

"Okay so, do you have any ideas on where your brother might be?" Piper says, caving in.

"Yes, the monster who took him threatened me, told me he was taking him to a cave a couple of miles north." She says, nodding her head in a direction that I thought was west… but I'm no human compass. Besides, she would probably know more than I would, what with the likeliness she has many, many years of experience.

"I guess we could help her, on the way we might find some signs for our quest." Annabeth says, and she's right, we hadn't had a lead yet so it couldn't hurt to help her… well I guess it could but... eh I'm overthinking this.

"Let's camp for the night and get started tomorrow." Jason speaks up, and we all agree. After setting up a quick camp in a clearing, we all pretty much fall asleep, including me.

Sometime into the night I wake up and accidently smash my head against a rock that _somehow_ got right next to my head. I bolt upward and open my mouth in a silent scream, thrashing my arms in the air as a reflex to the pain. I press both of my hands to the sides of my head as if it would somehow make the pain go away. I'm sure my reaction would've been pretty funny if I hadn't just _slammed my head against a _rock_._

I sit upright as the pain starts to fade away, leaving a headache storming around in my brain, wonderful… just wonderful. I glare into the dark with a pout, cursing my bad luck. My eyes are slowly adjusting to the darkness, and I hear a rustling noise, and I see the outline of someone, who I soon realize is Adrienne -from the outline of her hair- walking away from the clearing.

At first I was confused, then my mind became excided, and I raise my arms in the air in victory, grinning and thinking: _OH! The Gods must've wanted me to wake up to follow her and see if she's doing anything naughty! _Before realizing how stupid it sounded, don't judge me I just woke up and now have a terrible headache. I shrug and decide to follow her anyway.

I trail her through the thick undergrowth, not too far behind, but far enough that she wouldn't see or hear me. After about 10 minutes of walking, I see her stop, and I crouch in a bush not far away. The clearing we're in looks no more suspicious than any other, but I wouldn't know, seeing as it was just about pitch black out here. She pauses before moving a well concealed pile of sticks and leave away from a long, thin rock that couldn't have been too heavy. She moves that away too, revealing a hole, not big but obviously leading to something. I watch as she skillfully drops into the hole, and I stand there, confused, I stare at the hole, watching as a small hand appears and gropes around before grabbing the rock and pulling it back over the entrance. I know I should not follow her into the hole, which would just be stupid, besides, I don't know how she even fit into that thing. I don't think it's a good idea to stay where I am until she comes out, if she does come out. I disappointedly decide that it would be best to go back to Jason, Leo, and Piper, and wait for her there.

I make the trek back to where the others lay, still sleeping and I shake my head, wondering if they would believe me if I told them what I saw. Probably not, after all, they just met me, and Leo would probably get pretty angry of I made any accusations against his 'crush'. So, I foolishly decide against telling them what I had saw, deciding to see how everything else pans out before saying anything. I lay back down without the intention of falling asleep. I do anyway.

**N/A**

**So what do you think? I had writers block so I just took a break for the week. I had intended for this chapter to be longer, but, oh well, I'm gonna try to make future chapters longer, I promise. Anyway, Rate and review! :)**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Thanks for the people who reviewed, I really appreciate it-**

**Readingnut4life: Thank youuu I try my best :)**

**Guest: yeah, it wasn't exactly my favorite chapter either, eh, it is what it is. Thanks for reviewing :)**

**Sharondippity: Thank you :D**

**Anyways…**

**I would really appreciate it if you reviewed and/or added my story to your favorites/subscriptions, I'm trying to get to 20 reviews for the entire story, I have 17 now, and if you **_**do**_** review, I will check out your profile and stories :) Thank you.**

**And sorry it took so long to update, I had a writer's block but I'm back on track now!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**ON WITH THE STORY (Yes I will say that for EVERY SINGLE chapter.)**

Chapter 7:

I wake to the sound of talking, rather loud I must add, having no respect for somebody that was trying to _sleep_ here. I open my eyes only to see that Adrienne had returned once again, I glare at her, obviously, she did not get caught for sneaking out last night. I am quite surprised to see that she is _flirting_ with Leo…. What the heck?! This was strange…. And rather awkward, especially for Jason and Piper, who are sitting a little ways off looking at them like: _What the heck are you doing? We're supposed to be talking strategy here!_ It's actually REALLY funny, and I snort under my breath, causing them all to turn in my direction, what? I didn't think it was _that_ loud… I give them a look that says: _Whaaat? Me? No it was that squirrel over there laughing at your stupidness. _Sarcasm.

Jason grins, and Adrienne rolls her eyes in my direction, rather obnoxiously, I might add, it was not that good humor eye roll. I don't think this girl is as nice as she first seemed, I narrow my eyes at her seemingly jokingly, but I wholeheartedly mean it.

"Alright…." Jason says, interfering, "Uh- we should really get going…" I nod, walking off in the direction that was supposedly north, with the others trailing behind me.

"Alright, I have no idea where I'm going." I say, giving up after like, an hour of walking. I grab Jason's shoulder and push him in front of me, indicating that he should lead the group, honestly I have no idea why they even let me lead it the first place…

Anyway, Jason took the lead, (Who by the way, was a MUCH better leader than me.) and after a while he had brought us to a small beach with rocky ledges leading up to a narrow pathway, which soon disappeared from my line of vision. I realize that this was the place Adrienne told us about, where her supposed brother was…. That story was still a little strange but, eh.

"That's it!" Adrienne squealed "That's where the monster took my brother!" I cover my ears, annoyed with her squealing, you know, everything this girl did annoyed me now…. Why do I hate her? I couldn't say. I shrug and listen in as piper begins to speak.

"Okay so we go in there, defeat the monster and get your brother back?" Piper asks, directing her question towards Adrienne, who nods. Am I the only one who doubts her word? I thought demigods were supposed to be smart, and they're just gonna trust her word just like that? Well they're the ones who are 'experienced' so I guess they know best right?

I shrug and follow Jason, who is leaping from rock to rock, ascending quickly. I thought it would be hard for me, but I guess I had done something like this in my unknown past because I scaled the cliff without a problem, feeling LIKE A BOSS when I got to the top and looked down to see Leo and piper slightly struggling to climb it. Once everyone had reached the top, we continued down the path that I could only see a fraction of from the bottom of the cliff… and let me tell you that was a SMALL fraction of what we _actually_ had to walk. My Gods, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, I could just picture the tumbleweed stumbling across our path… and I am most certainly _not_ being dramatic, which is what Leo said I was after I started complaining while we were only about half way there…. Well you would complain too if you had to walk like… 20 miles to a cave that wasn't even necessary for the quest! I'll stop ranting now….

Oh look! Here we are…

A huge rock entrance _finally_ comes into view and I sigh with relief, a little too loudly from the look Adrienne gives me…. THE SHE DEMON…. Just kidding… that would be a little harsh... but I _have_ established that I do not like her… she annoys me, and she just comes across as an obnoxious person in general. Anyway, I observe the entrance of the cave in great distaste; there are suspicious rocks on the cliff edges above it built up after the years from sliding down the mountain's edge. As Jason begins to march into it with the rest of the crew trailing behind him, I have an uneasy feeling in my stomach, I'm not very fond of dark, unknown caves where you can possibly get your eyes pecked out by little demon bats or attacked by a sea of demon spiders… you know, I'm being irrational, that's not gonna happen… I hope…

So, we walk into the dark cave, and Annabeth brings out a flashlight, (smart, smart girl) and expertly shines it in every possible crack or corner, checking for enemies. I watch as Adrienne saunters up in front of everyone, and my eyes never leave her, suspicious of her intentions.

"So we can find your brother and just get out of here." Jason says, obviously also spooked by the dark, suspicious cave.

"Sorry sweetie, but I can't let you do that." Adrienne hisses, her voice becoming raspy. Annabeth's hand jerks and she quickly shines her flashlight in Adrienne's direction. I almost choke on my own saliva as the light lands on the girls face, her hair is now flaming, all traces of the neat black haircut now gone and her canine teeth have grown and now ended in points. (Ha… told you she was a demon…) I almost choke again, but with laughter this time, upon seeing her legs replaced with one donkey and one bronze prosthetic leg… call me crazy but it was really amusing...

"What _are_ you? A cross breed between a donkey and a vampire?" I say, restraining the laughter from escaping my throat. She glares at me, and I give her the exact look right back, kind of like when a dog barks at you and you bark back at it just to humor it… that's right, I'm calling her a dog now.

"It's an Empusa." Annabeth says….. Her love of knowledge taking over once again! Adrienne stomps her prosthetic foot on the ground as if throwing a temper tantrum… apparently that leg had a lot of force built up in it because the walls began to shake and the rocks that I had noticed on the cliff top were dislodged and landed in front of the entrance, enabling us from escaping. That is NOT a coincidence… this was definitely planned. Three words: I KNEW IT. Now, this was _much_ worse than demon bats or demon spiders.

The _thing _lunges at where Leo and Jason were standing, obviously going for the male's blood with her creepy vampire fangs. I watch as Jason flips out his sword and slaps her in the face with the flat edge. This disappoints me, but it was still rather amusing.

"Don't be afraid to chop its head off! It's not a girl anymore it's a _thing_!" I scream at Jason, frustrated by the fact that _it_ was still alive. Adrienne stumbles backward, before regaining her composure and sauntering in Leo's direction. His eyes follow her as if in some sort of trance, and I realized there must be some sort of mental manipulation going on here. It's probably affecting Jason too, a little more slowly by the looks of it though.

I search for any possible way out, in case we need a quick escape, and the obvious choice is now barricaded by rocks and boulders. I look around the large cave and find a tunnel underneath a large rocky overhang, perfect. Probably set for her to escape if she needed to… well now, it might just trap _her_ inside. I turn to the Empusa, seeing as Piper has come out of her shock and is preparing for an attack.

I suddenly have an idea… whether or not the idea will work is a different story. I launch myself into a roll and propel myself through her legs and into the space behind her. I then quickly draw my machete and drive it through her back, right where her heart would be on the other side. That is if she _has_ a heart. She shrieks in pain and begins to disintegrate, right down to a pile of ashes on the floor of the cave. After staring at it for a couple seconds I walk towards the hidden tunnel, quickly calculating a plan to make the rocks fall, just in case. After a minute or so I notice a metal brace holding the rocks in place, another idea quickly forms in my mind.

"Leo do you happen to be able to pull and sledge hammer and pick out of that magical belt of yours?" I say mischievously, and he nods, pulling them out and giving them to me immediately. Using the tools I slowly inch the brace forward, until I only have a couple of inches left to go. As I turn to look at the crew I notice the Empusa, its materializing again! My eyes widen and I quickly gesture for them to move into the tunnel, and I change myself so I am about halfway inside. I hammer at the brace one more time and fling myself fully into the tunnel and watch and the brace comes tumbling down along with all of the rocks.

My heart is beating in my mouth and my hands are clammy with sweat, I'm pretty sure I'm breathing pretty hard too. Leo looks at me, concerned, what the heck? Did he not just ignore me completely in the short time when that demon was traveling with us? Am I not correct?

The tunnel is dark. And small. And way too wet for my liking, I'm pretty sure we have been crawling through this dump for over 20 minutes. Eventually we emerge, on the _other side_ of the island. I look around, this time there was no sea, no forest and the last time I checked, there was no mountain on this island. Well, there is now… and I have no idea how it got there, we really should have been able to see that before. I mean, the tunnel couldn't have been _that_ long right? On a closer look, I realize that the mountain is really a volcano, though it doesn't look active, we'll just have to wait and see.

I realize that it is getting dark, really? It couldn't have been that long… maybe we woke up late…? It's not that dark, only around 5… dusk. Annabeth opens her mouth to speak, probably to discuss what to do next, when abruptly; an owl flies out of nowhere, landing on my shoulder. I freeze, not wanting to startle it. The owl is an off white, with brown markings all over its body and wings, it has large eyes. Something about the eyes are strange, you can practically see the intelligence and wisdom in its gaze, as if it was trying to tell me something. Its eyes move towards the volcano, and back to me, before flying off again.

Annabeth opens her mouth to speak. "That could mean two things…"

**N/A**

**Anyone notice I've been saying N/A instead of A/N at the end of the chapters? I don't know why I did that…. I'm rather strange. Anyway, how did you like it? And again, please please please review on my story, if you do I will go to your profile and check out your stuff… pleeease? :) Hope you liked this chapter! :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N**

**Hey guys, thanks for reviewing, I now have 23 reviews! But my computers being all weird and it says I only have 18, but anyways, thanks to the people who reviewed:**

**Guest: Aw thank you! :) :)**

**Guest: Thanks for reviewing you are awesome! =D**

**Assyna Hunter of Artemis: Haha me too, that was one of my favorite parts! Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**Anyway...**

**I couldn't update this last couple of weeks or so because… (Drumroll) school was starting (it started the beginning of September, I know, it's late) and I had a week of vacation the week before and there was no Wi-Fi. So anyway, sorry, I've had no motivation lately and I'm trying to get my writing brain going again!**

**So anyway, comment and review, and possibly favorite it? Thank you it would mean a lot to me! I'll check out your stories and profiles if you do.**

**ON WITH THE STORY! :)**

Chapter 8:

My head snapped towards Annabeth in full attention, this should be interesting...

"That could mean one of two things… one, your godly parent is Athena –Minerva, whatever you want to call her-, OR, that owl just told us to go inside, or in the general direction of that volcano…." Annabeth says, gesturing in the direction that was obviously toward the volcano, even though I don't know why she thinks we have to go _inside_ the volcano...

"Or both!" Leo chirps behind me, and I jump because I forgot he was there.

"Uh, I'm sorry but I really _don't_ feel like crawling into a volcano right now, I don't care if that thing is active or not…" I say, sort of unsure, I mean, who knows if that thing is just randomly gonna, squirt molten lava at me? I really do not want to take that chance.

"It'll be fine! We'll let Leo do all the dirty work!" Piper says cheerfully. Why is everyone in such a good mood all of a sudden?! I was about to ask why she though Leo would have to do all the dirty work. What makes him different from everybody else? I mean, this is _my_ quest right? If Leo did all the work then wouldn't it be _his_ quest and not mine?

Right as I open my mouth to ask, a giant spurt of lava shoots itself from the side of the volcano a little ways up, and I flinch backward, instinctively. Most of the lava doesn't reach us, but a good sized clump of it rains down and splats right on my arm before I can move out of the way. I shake my arm automatically, before realizing that the lava on my arm didn't burn, it only tingled a little bit. I stand there stupidly, staring at it as if it would give me all the answers. Annabeth's eyes widen and she opens her mouth to say something, which I hope is something that will explain what the heck just happened.

"Uh, we might want to rethink that first part…" She says, as if she can sense the fact that it didn't hurt in the least bit. My mind flashes back to our previous conversation and I realize she's talking about my Godly parent being Minerva. Or Athena…. Whatever. I wipe the lava off my arm, and there is no trace of it after it is gone.

"What do you mean?" I say, confused, what does this have to do with my Godly parent?

"Leo's like that, fire doesn't hurt him, he can, um, create fire. Certain children of Hephaestus have the gift of creating fire, which also means it doesn't burn them. Its rare, people like him." Piper explains, and turns to Leo, gesturing for him to demonstrate. He hesitantly opens his palm, and a small flame lingers there, the red flames licking his fingers. The flame dissipates when he closes his palm. I stare at him with wide eyes, and he stares back at me, as if he expects me to say something to him, perhaps something rude.

"…can I touch it?" The words come tumbling out of my mouth.

"What?" That's Leo.

"The flame, can I touch it?" I reply.

"What? Why?" He asks again, looking confused, but a little relived.

"Well… I want to touch it, to see if I'm fire resistant like you." I say, and the words my lips form don't make much sense, but I know what I mean.

"No. You know you are, we all saw what just happened." He says, not unexpectedly, but still.

"But…" I start to say, knowing my argument is in vain.

"No." He says once again, cutting me off, and I accept his answer in defeat. We all just stand there, and I run through the conversation we just had in my head. I'm sure my face is turning red, cause I'm realizing how stupid and ridiculous I sounded in the recent conversation. I'm in this weird mood right now… what do you call it? A 'childish' mood I guess. You know what I mean? I hate it.

"So… what do we do now?" Jason says, adding to the conversation. I guess everyone dropped the subject on my Godly parent is, and I'm not about to start it up again. We'll probably end up discussing it sooner or later anyway.

"Well… I guess Leo _and_ Alex can do the parts involving fire then." Annabeth says reluctantly "I mean it _is_ Alex's quest." She adds. I nod, along with the rest of them. I really have no idea what part the rest of them are going to have in this, but I'm sure they have it all figured out.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get into the volcano?!" I speak again, am I missing something?

"Well if we're supposed to be going in there, there'll be an opening somewhere along the side." Annabeth explains slowly, and I realize that her explanations make a lot of sense, this IS Annabeth we're talking about though. Well, I guess we'll see if this is what we're supposed to be doing right now.

We all share a look and begin to walk steadily towards the giant lump of lava. As we begin to circle the volcano, I realize that it's a lot bigger than I had originally thought… This was going to take a longer than I thought. I figured that if we're gonna be walking, I might as well ask them about their previous quest.

"So guys…" I start to say conversationally "Story time!" I end, grinning big, quoting myself from before. Do you remember? When we were on the boat before Juno released her wrath and violently crashed us into an island? I see Leo half smile next to me out of the corner of my eye.

Piper laughs, "sorry Alex, it's gonna take a lot longer than we have to tell you about it."

"So basically we had to rescue Hera from a crazy giant that wanted to marry her." Leo says, ignoring Piper's excuse, looking amused.

"Seriously? That's a little weird…" I state, but I'm sure there's more to it than that. Piper glares at Leo.

"That's not what happened…. Well, it is but, I wouldn't put it that way. We did a lot more that that…" Piper defends, and Jason speaks up.

"Well, we did save the world." He adds. I nod, but I'm pretty sure most demigod quests involve saving the world, to some effect at least. Nobody else speaks for a while afterwards, we just walk in silence. After a while, I spot a marking on the side of the volcano. It's a sort of triangle, but there's a horizontal line down the middle. Two small dots line the top of the triangle, parallel from each other. But they're so small I'm not sure if they're part of the carving or not. For a second, I see Annabeth's eyes widen, but her expressing soon changes to confusion.

"What- I – I….." She started to speak but trailed off after stammering a couple of words out. Piper, Leo and Jason obviously didn't know what was going on either 'cause they were looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. She never did.

Out of instinct, I raise my left hand and press my palm to the symbol etched into the old rock. My hand begins to glow and I feel warmth spread from my palm. When I release my hand, a part in the rock formation slides away to reveal the entrance to a completely pitch black tunnel.

**N/A**

**Did you like it? Comment maybe?**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N**

**Thanks to the people who read and reviewed on my story!**

**Anastasia Laurels 2.0: Thanks! I try :)**

**Guest: Thank you! :)**

**Hades's-daughter: Thank. You. :P**

**So anyways...**

**I'm sorry…. I literally have no motivation whatsoever. Plus, between school, sports, homework, and the busy weekends, I have no free time… AT ALL… And I've been working on my Halloween costume for this past month. Plus with hurricane Sandy, my power wet put and I couldn't update…The hurricane hit my town pretty hard :(**

**But I'm back now, and I promise I will TRY to update more regularly…. Now that fall sports are almost over it should be easier. **

**Oh yeah…. And Mark of Athena is FINALLY out! I know it's actually been like a month since it actually came out but oh well. Leo is freaking EPIC in the book! =D**

**Oh yeah and I wanted to know, do you guys want anything in Leo's POV? I wasn't originally going to put alternate POV's in here, but I have an idea and I really really wanna sneak it…**

**SO…. Here's the overly delayed chapter!**

Chapter 9:

….

I'm almost afraid to move, I turn to Annabeth, who looks like she doesn't have a CLUE what we're supposed to do either, and that's scary 'cause she ALWAYS knows what to do. I'm not sure whether or not to continue and I'm about to speak up, but apparently, Leo has other plans. He pushes past me without a word; proceeding to walk incautiously into the volcano that I was pretty sure would end up being a death trap.

"Leo!" I called out, and of course, he doesn't respond. There was really no other choice but to follow him because obviously, he wasn't gonna listen to me, or anyone else for that matter. The second I stepped into the tunnel, I'm pretty sure the temperature went up like 20… maybe 50 degrees. Sighing, I shuffled down the stuffy passageway; this was not going to be fun. Nope, DEFINITELY not gonna be fun…..

After a couple of minutes of the rest of the gang calling out Leo's name in vain they decide to follow us. While we're walking down the rocky tunnel, the air gets hotter and hotter, and if this is hot to me, I can't even imagine what it's like for the rest of the gang… excluding Leo. I hear Jason coughing and Annabeth's face is incredibly red, like a tomato, they are not going to last much longer at heat like this.

We should probably stop to decide what we're going to do when it gets too hot for them. I put my hand on Leo's shoulder and begin to speak but he whirls and snaps at me like he knows exactly what I am going to say.

"No! We have to go this way! I know it, I can feel it!"

Jeez grumpy much? Who shoved a coconut up his butt? He was fine five minutes ago… I turn and exchange a look with Annabeth and we both know what we're going to do. Jason, Piper, and Annabeth stop walking and I watch over my shoulder as we get farther and farther away from them. After a while my eyes begin to sting… maybe we should stop….

"Leo…." My voice is choked and raspy, so I clear my throat awkwardly afterwards. He understands what I'm trying say, and he sighs, but stops.

"I want to keep going…" He mutters, and I wonder why he's so driven… why does he want to finish this quest so badly? It's not his memory that's being risked…

"It's been a long day…" I say softly, and it has. The last time I slept was when before we found out Adrienne was a blood sucking creeper. Leo sighs and slides down the cold wall, it isn't particularly dark in the cave… there's a sort of… glow, in our tunnel.

"I know you're not my sister." Leo blurts out, breaking the thick tension, his eyes darting up to meet mine before flitting downward again.

"What?" I ask, confused, what's he getting at?

"A child of Hephaestus, I mean… I know you're not a child of Hephaestus." He stammers out.

"Uh- How?" I'm still puzzled, and my question comes out more awkwardly than I intended.

"Um, I -I just… uh…" He mumbles, obviously trying to scrape together a decent explanation. His fingers fumble with the small curls on the top of his head and his face flushes. Well SOMEBODY'S had a mood change…

Suddenly, the earth begins to shake and jerk, like it did on the ship… and I am flung, literally on top of Leo… no joke… My head is resting on his stomach… awkwardly enough. The shaking is still for a moment and I freeze, opening my eyes and darting them up to his face. He had obviously frozen too and a small, nervous smile appearing on his lips.

I could feel the heat practically flush my face and I scooted my butt forward, scrambling clumsily to get myself out of the incredibly uncomfortable situation. We sit at awkwardly next to each other until I glance over at Leo's face, where I see a cheeky smile forming.

"That was fun…" he turns to me, I glare at him and playfully punch his arm, maybe a little bit too roughly… he doesn't seem to like that. His hands lunge for my stomach and before I can move, he begins to tickle me….. A lot. I involuntarily let out a piercing shriek that echoes through the whole tunnel, and the earth begins to shake again. We both freeze, me practically in a fetal position and Leo with his arms reaching around my waist and into my personal bubble… it is now popped… big time.

**N/A**

**FINALLLY… I'm sorry that was so short but I have a really bad case of writers block, PM me if you have any ideas…. Please please? I'll let you in on a sneak peek for what I have planned for later… I HAVE TO TELL SOMEBODY! Well…. comment maybe? I'm going for 3 this chapter…. Peace!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N**

**Thanks you guys**

**TrueGrimm: Sure, I'll most definitely keep on writing as long as you keep reading :)**

**(Guest) MEEE: YAY Thanks :P**

**Hades's- Daughter: Thanks! I will :)**

**Anastasia Laurels 2.0: Thanks! That'll help too!**

**Pretty Monster Princess: Thank you, I will!**

**Sharon: Thanks! :)**

**Prayers go out to everyone affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre. 3**

Chapter 10:

My eyes we wide, having scrambled up moments ago, Leo and I stand, hunched over by the wall of the tunnel, confused. Leo's eyes are wide and his face is flushed from the little 'episode' a couple of seconds ago. The volcano hasn't stopped shaking and rumbling, and I can't help but worry about whether or not this thing is really inactive. I worriedly fumble with my fingers and run after Leo as he suddenly pelts down the tunnel. He's going at a faster pace than me and I rush to catch up to him. He turns around a corner and I can't see him anymore, he seems to have vanished into an invisible room. When I get to the spot where he vanished, I'm confused because there's nothing there, it's like the rock just opened up and swallowed him. I'm beginning to panic and I try to calm myself down again as my mind races to find a solution. The rumbling is getting louder and seemingly angrier so without thinking I bolt down the corridor.

After a couple minutes of full out sprinting I begin to slow to a stop, out of breath. I raise my head in confusion as I realize the tunnel is getting smaller, soon I'll have to crawl. I feel my face flush and the panic rises up in the pit of my stomach, I'm not very good at staying calm... I know that soon, I'm going to run out of plan B's. I slide myself forward and suddenly, I feel the floor cave, I can feel the air suck in as I fall through a weak point in the floor. For a moment I'm free falling, the air shooting across my warm face. I let out a yell as I feel my leg crunch underneath me when I hit the ground moments later. I can tell I've landed in a large room when I hear the echo of rocks and cave debris against the smooth floor.

Coughing to clear my stinging lungs, I slowly began to stand; only to collapse again as a sharp pain jolts up my lower leg. I curse and blink rapidly, trying to clear the dust out of my watering eyes. When they are clear enough for my surroundings to be visible I am met with a sight I was not prepared to see, not here.

I'm sitting in the middle of a very large room, with smooth black tiled flooring and velvet furniture scattered around to room. There are black lace curtains mounted on the wall even though there aren't any windows to go with them. The lighting is dim and there is an overpowering scent of lavender in the air. The dusty, uneven rock ceiling seems out of place with the elegantly furnished room. There are rocks and debris strewn on the floor around me, making the otherwise spotless floor dusty.

Focusing on my injured leg, I hold my breath and slowly slide it out from under my body, wincing as I feel slight pain. Abruptly, the rumbling in the tunnels that had otherwise stopped, began again, getting louder and louder with each second, this time, a low, inhuman moaning noise accompanies it. Slowly, I turn my head to the corner of the room farthest away from me, and the source of the sound, already instinctively sliding farther away.

There, curled in the corner, was a creature which was certainly not human. I could see the bare torso of a man but that was the closest it came to anything normal. Sprawled out underneath it were two long, coiled viper tails, a dark olive green color. The most disturbing part was his hands, hundreds of tiny snakes instead of fingers, all of them at least eight inches long. As far as I could see, wings were folded across his back, the tips poking out from behind his head….. His _heads…._ Hundreds of animal heads sprouted from his neck and back…. bulls, boars, serpents, lions, leopards, but in the center, one lone human head sat, scarred and cruel looking. It had deep set eyes with barely any eyebrows to go with it, and a hard set mouth and an unruly beard to go with it. He had pointed ears that stood out on his dark, matted hair, and red eyes full of fire.

The low, inhuman sound didn't come from his mouth, but rather radiated through the room, ominously. His cold eyes bored into me and the low sound became of a screeching one. He slammed one of his 'tails' on the ground, making it rumble and shake, bringing it up and flinging a boiling red rock flinging it in my direction. Thinking quickly, I dove to my right, dragging my injured leg with me as I scrambled to get out of the fire zone, ignoring the pain that laced through my leg.

Stumbling backwards, I slammed against a wall, only to feel the solid wood give way and swallow me into a black hole. I was so _sick_ of falling. I hit the floor much sooner than the first time, and it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, seeing as I landed on my tailbone and not my injured leg. I could still hear the creature going on a rage, the ground shook violently and I assumed another fireball must have hit a wall. My heart was still beating irregularly and with a shaking hand I felt around the dark room. My hand suddenly hit something soft, skin…. A face. I involuntarily let out a scream, before the stranger spoke, a voice I knew.

"Alex?"

**N/A **

**This is where it gets intense. :L**


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